A senior Hong Kong judge sided with the government on Friday and rejected the first legal challenge to the city’s newly enacted national security law, brought by a jailed protestor.
Ma Chun-man – known as “Captain America 2.0” for carrying a replica of the Marvel superhero’s shield during democracy rallies in 2019 – was charged with “inciting secession” under a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. Was imprisoned for.
He hoped to receive a reprieve for one-third of his sentence – usually given to prisoners for good behavior – and be released in March.
But passage of another national security law this year effectively banned sentence commutations for people convicted of national security crimes and Ma’s request for early release was rejected.
Ma challenged the decision, but on Friday the court said the new system was “sufficiently accurate and certain”.
“There is no question of imposing any additional or heavier penalty on Mr Ma under the new rules,” High Court Judge Alex Lee ruled.
“The applicant’s genuine judicial review has been rejected,” said Lee, one of a group of jurists selected by Hong Kong’s leader to hear security cases.
Both of Hong Kong’s national security laws have been criticized by Western countries such as the United States for stifling dissent and curtailing freedoms in the city.
Hong Kong authorities have defended the laws as needed to restore order after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Under the second law, national security prisoners are no longer “entitled to immunity,” city leader John Lee said, adding that the rule change also includes those already serving sentences.
Exceptions can only be made if Hong Kong’s prison chief is satisfied that early release would not be contrary to national security interests.
Ma’s lawyers argued that the definition of “national security interests” was too vague.
But government lawyers responded that “national security is actually a constantly evolving concept… that is not capable of being defined inflexibly”.
Ma, a former food delivery worker, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison after being found guilty of “inciting secession” by chanting Hong Kong independence slogans, which was previously a crime under the national security law.
The sentence was reduced to five years following a successful appeal in 2022.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
